The ''Dictionary of the Scots Language'' (DSL) ( sco, Dictionar o the Scots Leid, gd, Faclair de Chànan na Albais) is an online Scots-

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

dictionary, now run by Dictionaries of the Scots Language, formerly known as Scottish Language Dictionaries, a registered SCIO charity. Freely available via the Internet, the work comprises the two major dictionaries of the

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commo ...

: *''

Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue The ''Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'' (DOST) is a 12-volume dictionary that documents the history of the Scots language covering Older Scots from the earliest written evidence in the 12th century until the year 1700. DOST was compile ...

'' (DOST), 12 volumes *''

Scottish National Dictionary The ''Scottish National Dictionary'' (''SND'') was published by the Scottish National Dictionary Association (SNDA) from 1931 to 1976 and documents the Modern (Lowland) Scots language. The original editor, William Grant, was the driving force b ...

'' (SND), 10 volumes The DOST contains information about Older Scots words in use from the 12th to the end of the 17th centuries (

Early Early may refer to: History * The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.: ** Early Christianity ** Early modern Europe Places in the United States * Early, Iowa * Early, Texas * Early ...

and

Middle Scots Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...

); SND contains information about Scots words in use from 1700 to the 1970s (

Modern Scots Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, from 1700. Throughout its history, Modern Scots has been undergoing a process of language attrition, whereby successive generations ...

). Together these 22 volumes provide a comprehensive history of Scots. The SND Bibliography and the DOST Register of Titles have also been digitised and can be searched in the same way as the main data files. A new supplement compiled by Scottish Language Dictionaries was added in 2005. The digitisation project, which ran from February 2001 to January 2004, was based at the

University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...

and primarily funded by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board, with additional support provided by the Scottish National Dictionary Association and the

Russell Trust Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory * Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Rus ...

. The project team was led by academic, Dr Victor Skretkowicz and lexicographer, Susan Rennie, a former Senior Editor with the Scottish National Dictionary Association. Its methodology was based on a previous, pilot project by Rennie to digitise the ''

'' (the eSND project), using a customised XML markup based on Text Encoding Initiative guidelines. The Dictionary of the Scots Language data was later used to create sample categories for a ne
Historical Thesaurus of Scots
project, led by Rennie at the University of Glasgow, which was launched in 2015. Dr Victor Skretkowicz was born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

, in 1942; joined the

's English Department in 1978 and in 1989, became the Dundee University's representative on the Joint Council for the ''

'' being elected as its convenor three years later. Under his direction it was responsible for volumes 9-12 of that dictionary. In 2001, he was appointed Research Director of the project to create the ''Dictionary of the Scots Language''. Skretkowicz retired from Dundee in 2007 and died in 2009. Archives relating to his work are held by the University of Dundee's Archive Services.

References

External links

*
ScotLex page on the Dictionary of the Scots LanguageScotLex page on the Historical Thesaurus of Scots (based on the DSL)(PDF file) Inventory
of the Scottish National Dictionary Association at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...

{{dictionary-stub Internet properties established in 2001

Scots Language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commo ...

Scottish non-fiction books University of Dundee